Television.

Hispanics Say Negative Role Models Prevail On Tv

September 26, 1998|By Richard Huff, Knight-Ridder/Tribune.

A majority of Hispanic TV viewers report that Latinos are more likely to be portrayed as violent on English-speaking television than Spanish-speaking channels, according to a survey released this week.

Overall, Hispanic respondents to a poll on TV viewing said that English-language shows are generally more violent than Spanish-language programming.

According to the survey, conducted by the non-profit Tomas Rivera Policy Institute and funded by HBO, Time Warner and Anheuser-Busch, Latinos are generally content with what they see on TV, although they feel they are portrayed negatively by entertainment and news programs.

Pollsters interviewed 1,013 Hispanics and 404 non-Hispanic whites.

Three out of four Hispanics surveyed said they watched at least as much English-speaking TV, including shows like "NYPD Blue" that currently stars Hispanic actor Jimmy Smits, as they do Spanish-language TV. Though they are more likely to watch Spanish-language news, 7 of 10 said that when they watch English-language news, stories about Hispanic men are about crime or immigration.